BAT's contract settled one question in 2017: no more than 1.5 billion native tokens could be created. Almost everything users experience—ad eligibility, the advertised revenue split, custody, KYC and creator payouts—continued to evolve as a company-operated service.
The May 31, 2017 launch created 1 billion BAT for the public sale and placed 500 million with a Brave-designated deposit. The white paper assigned 200 million of that reserve to Brave and 300 million to a User Growth Pool for early-user grants. Once the sale was finalized, the contract stopped being a monetary policy machine: it retained ordinary transfer and allowance functions but no later mint, pause, freeze, blacklist, proxy or token vote.
When Brave Ads launched in April 2019, Brave said participants would receive 70% of gross revenue from user ads and Brave would keep 30%. Current pages use both a 70% summary and broader wording that an eligible user's share is at least Brave's share. The meaningful boundary is stable even as wording changes: Brave determines eligible attention and pays participating accounts; the BAT contract neither measures an ad view nor grants every holder a claim on ad sales.
Rewards first kept earnings in a centralized virtual BAT balance. Brave announced that model’s retirement in 2023 and at that point required a connected custodial account for new earnings. On February 22, 2024, it announced invitation-only payouts to self-custody Solana addresses using Wormhole-bridged BAT; on August 14, 2025, it expanded that path to eligible countries on desktop and Android. Regional restrictions remained. Custodians perform KYC and hold custodial BAT, while Brave operates eligibility and fraud controls and receives some linked account data. Self-custody changes who holds the payout, not who runs the advertising rules.
Brave Creators links verified sites and channels to payout destinations, with instant or monthly settlement depending on the contribution and a documented 5% contribution fee. These flows can make BAT useful without changing its legal character. The reviewed terms deny ownership, company participation, future-revenue and refund rights to token holders. Official materials identify Brave corporate entities, but no holder-owned BAT foundation or onchain DAO that governs Brave's business.
One billion BAT goes to sale purchasers; 200 million is allocated to Brave and 300 million to the User Growth Pool within the fixed 1.5 billion cap.
Brave publicly frames user ads around a 70% participant share of gross ad revenue and a 30% company share.
Brave announces that new earnings require connection to a custodial partner as it sunsets the centralized vBAT balance.
Brave announced October 31, 2023 as the expected vBAT sunset deadline. Users in unsupported regions could contribute their balances to verified creators before that deadline; the announcement did not confirm completed retirement.
Brave announced invitation-only Rewards payouts to self-custody Solana addresses in Wormhole-bridged BAT.
Brave expanded self-custody payouts to eligible users on desktop and Android with version 1.81.x; regional restrictions remained.
Last evidence review: 2026-09-05
Basic Attention Token is the Ethereum ERC-20 at `0x0d8775f648430679a709e98d2b0cb6250d2887ef`, with 18 decimals and a 1.5 billion-token creation cap. The 2017 sale contract created 1 billion BAT for purchasers and assigned 500 million to a Brave-controlled deposit: project materials divided that reserve into 200 million for Brave and a 300 million User Growth Pool. After finalization the code exposes transfers and allowances, but no new mint, proxy upgrade, owner pause, blacklist or freeze.
BAT is also an accounting and payout asset inside Brave Ads, Rewards and Creators. That service layer is operated by Brave Software and its partners. A BAT balance alone does not enroll its owner in ads, guarantee a payment, confer a vote over Brave, or create equity, revenue-share or redemption rights.
Brave's proposal joined two markets that normally distrust one another. Advertisers want measurable attention; readers want privacy and control; publishers and creators need payment. Brave matches eligible ads in the browser and uses BAT to settle rewards and contributions, seeking to reduce the behavioral profiles exported to conventional ad exchanges.
The design does not move the whole advertising business onchain. Brave sells campaigns, defines supported regions and eligibility, detects fraud, calculates earnings and arranges payouts. The token contract can prove BAT transfers and the fixed cap; it cannot prove that an impression qualified, that a user passed account checks, or that a creator deserves a monthly distribution.
At the April 2019 Brave Ads launch, Brave described a 70% share of gross user-ad revenue for participating users and 30% for Brave. Current Rewards material phrases the eligible-ad share as at least as large as Brave's and the Ads FAQ still summarizes 70%. These are service policies tied to eligible activity, not a dividend attached to every BAT. Announced publisher-integrated ad splits were a separate format and should not be applied to every campaign.
Payout plumbing has changed. In 2023 Brave announced the retirement of the centralized virtual BAT balance model and then required a connected custodial account to begin earning. Current documentation allows a custodial provider or, where supported, a self-custody crypto address. Custodial providers perform KYC and hold the assets; Brave says it does not receive the identity documents, although account identifiers, country, deposit addresses and anti-fraud data can pass through the integration. Availability remains regional.
Creators prove control of a site or channel and connect a supported payout destination. Some on-demand contributions can settle immediately; other user and Brave-funded contributions are paid on a monthly cycle. Brave's FAQ describes a 5% contribution fee. Those creator flows depend on verification and service rules; they do not make BAT holders creditors of Brave or beneficiaries of all advertising revenue.
The reviewed Ethereum sale contract capped creation at 1.5 billion BAT and has no mint function after finalization. Bridged representations on other networks must be assessed separately from native Ethereum issuance.
No. The 70% statement concerns eligible user ads under Brave Rewards. A wallet balance by itself earns nothing, and Brave controls campaign accounting, eligibility, fraud checks and payout routes.
A custodial payout account requires KYC with its custodian. Current Brave material also describes supported self-custody addresses, whose availability depends on region and product rollout. Brave says custodians, rather than Brave, collect identity documents.
A creator verifies a site or channel and connects a supported payout account or address. Settlement timing differs by contribution type, and Brave documents a 5% fee on creator contributions.
No holder-voting mechanism appears in the fixed 2017 token contract. Brave controls its browser, ads and Rewards policies as a company; holding BAT does not grant a corporate vote or execute contract upgrades.
The sale terms state that BAT is not refundable and do not establish a fixed-value claim on Brave assets. Market transfers and eligible service payouts are different from issuer redemption.
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